Sunday, January 16, 2011

Michelle Malkin's Idiocy and bad legislative proposals

People can debate the merits of President Obama's speech in Tuscon Wednesday night. I fully expect liberals to say that the speech cinches Obama's second term, while I predict conservatives will say the speech cinched his place in the annals of the Top 5 Marxists of alltime.

But, Michelle Malkin's criticism of Obama is -- as is fairly typical of her -- several standards deviations away from reasonable. Her major criticism is this -- that the tragedy in Tuscon is being "branded."

"President Obama used to preach that there was no “Red America” and no “Blue America,” just one America.

But tonight at the memorial for the Tucson massacre victims, it will be a sea of blue as the White House unveils the “Together We Thrive” logo and slogan.

Yes, the Tucson massacre is being branded."

Malkin continues: "All the University of Arizona buses in Tucson have been flashing the slogan on their digital signs.

Attendees at the memorial tonight report that they are being handed out the blue and white t-shirts as they enter the venue.

A reader in attendance tells me via Twitter that volunteers will be wearing red-and-white shirts."

... "Will there be giant foam fingers and blue cotton candy, too?

Isn’t the churning of the instant messaging machine a bit, well, unseemly?

Can’t the Democrat political stage managers give it a break just once?"

Ah, the ceremony at Tuscon was being managed by the Democrats. And the proof?:

"As noted above, the University of Arizona announced the Together We Thrive event — and a few readers write in to say that the campus initiated the logo/campaign. Given U of A president Robert Shelton’s embarrassing, thinly-veiled partisan cheerleading for Obama tonight, it may indeed be a 100 percent-campus-initiated campaign. Given the Obama White House’s meticulous attention to stage prop details, however, I would say the odds of involvement by Axelrod/Plouffe & Co. are high."

Oh, I see. The proof that the ceremony was staged managed came out of Malkin's speculation. In other words, she just made it up -- which, by the way is her modus operandi. Her book, Culture of Corruption, had just enough facts in it to not get her sued for libel. For example, she was correct that Barack and Michelle Obama lived in Chicago. Everything else was pure fiction. [Note: I suspect that Malkin really could have been sued for libel, but the people she smeared in her book did not want to give her any more attention than she deserved.]

Seriously, if the conservative movement wants to be taken seriously, they need to take her platform away -- such as carrying her in Townhall magazine, and her appearances on FOX News.

Speaking of being taken seriously, in the wake of the tragic Arizona shooting, Rep. Bob Brady (D-PA) says he plans to introduce a bill criminalizing the use of certain forms of threatening imagery against lawmakers and judges, stating "You can't threaten the president with a bullseye or a crosshair." The bill would also ban symbols or language that threaten "a congressman, senator or federal judge," such as the map published last year by Sarah Palin in which House Democrats (including Rep. Giffords) were targeted for electoral defeat with crosshairs over their districts.

Rep. Brady shouldn't bother. First, this is a thinly veiled attempt to get at Sarah Palin. Actually the more she communicates (such as the "blood libel" comment, the more likely she is going to self-destruct). Second, it gives the conservatives an opportunity to resurrect the specter that the Democrats will try to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine to eliminate conservative talk radio. There is no such movement, and with the House in the hands of Republicans, no such legislation could be passed. Besides, the Tea Baggers in the House went ballistic two weeks ago when the FCC passed weak net neutrality rules to try to keep access to the Internet the same for individuals as for corporations. To Tea Baggers, "equality" and "fairness" are socialist terms, and must be squashed at every turn.

Better Rep. Brady work on legislation that would prevent crazy people from buying guns -- or at least work hard to defeat proposals to allow Congresspersons from packing.